Hellweg v. Cassidy

In Hellweg v. Cassidy (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 806 the defendant, who owned a residential parcel and an adjacent unimproved parcel, encumbered the residential parcel with a deed of trust and then obtained a lot line adjustment, adding a portion of the unencumbered, unimproved parcel to the encumbered residential parcel. (Id. at p. 808.) In an action to quiet title by the post-foreclosure purchasers of the residential property, the court held, although the unimproved property added to the residential parcel was not within the scope of the original deed of trust and there was no addendum expressly including it, the purchasers were properly granted the added property. (Id. at pp. 809, 811.) The language in the deed in Hellweg "operated automatically to add easements fixtures and additions to the secured property obtained after the deed was provided to the lender, whether such additions were recorded or not." (Id. at p. 810.) The deed of trust stated "that it includes, together with the legal description of the property, 'all the improvements now or hereafter erected on the property, and all easements, rights, appurtenances . . . and all fixtures now or hereafter a part of the property. All replacements and additions shall also be covered by this Security Instrument. All of the foregoing is referred to in this Security Instrument as the "Property."'" (Hellweg, supra, 61 Cal.App.4th at pp. 809-810.